Yesterday and today

This is the story of my first vaccine shot yesterday, at the Summit County Department of Health. My vaccine was Moderna, my next shot is scheduled for March 2nd.

It was not a jam packed event! I followed the signs around the building, until I was stopped. The signs said to have ID ready. I handed my driver's license out the passenger window to a fellow who took it into a kiosk. When I'd drifted forward to the kiosk, a young man compared me to my ID, asked my name and returned my license.

I drifted forward again to another check point, where I gave my name and me and my appointment were located on a tablet. I was told to follow the signs around the building, which I did, and came to a stop at the end of the line, three cars deep. I used the opportunity to get my arm bared down to a short sleeved tee.

The next stop was the business stop. The nurse who gave the shot sank the fairly long needle to the hilt in my arm. I felt nothing. I was told to continue around the building and park in the designated lot for fifteen minutes. If I required no additional care, I was free to leave.

As I drove the twenty minutes home, I became more and more sleepy. I expected this to happen; it's my reaction to foreign substances. By the time I was home, I ached everywhere. My shoulders, my arms, my legs. I attributed that to all the snow I'd shoveled, never mind it had only just begun.

I went to bed and got up this morning. I still ache all over. I wove for an hour, ate lunch, watched TV, made a salad for supper. I intend to feel better tomorrow.

Am I grateful the immunization sequence is started? Yes, of course. But I am more deeply saddened there is no stockpile of vaccine, as the former administration announced, there is no decent distribution system, there is no methodical program in place to inoculate all of us, and we all know when and where we will be inoculated.

I am not amused I happened to be at my computer when my email arrived, made sure I began registering for a shot one second after the registration opened, that I actually secured a spot and every shot was signed for in two minutes.

I took the route home past Stan Hywet hall. This stacked stone fence runs the equivalent of two city blocks. At one point the fence continues down the hill and an identical stack stone retaining wall parallels its route. Several years ago this wall was a crumbling mess. Funds were raised and the wall rebuilt.